<B>alongside, </B>adverb, preposition.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adv. </I> at the side; close to the side; side by side. <BR> <I>Ex. Anchor alongside.</I> <DD><I>prep. </I> by the side of; side by side with; beside. <BR> <I>Ex. Park alongside the curb. The boat was tied up alongside the wharf.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>alongside of,</B> </I>beside; next to. <BR> <I>Ex. If you stay alongside of me, you won't get lost.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="aloof">
<B>aloof, </B>adverb, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adv. </I> <B>1. </B>at some distance but within view; away; apart. <BR> <I>Ex. One boy stood aloof from all the others.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>without community of feeling. <BR> <I>Ex. to stand aloof from family joys and sorrows.</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> unsympathetic; not interested; withdrawn; reserved. <BR> <I>Ex. an aloof manner. Because of her shyness Jane seemed to be very aloof. Her aloof manner kept her from making many friends.</I> (SYN) distant. adv. <B>aloofly.</B> noun <B>aloofness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="alopecia">
<B>alopecia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> partial or complete loss of hair, as from disease; baldness. </DL>
<A NAME="alopeciaareata">
<B>alopecia areata,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> loss of hair in sharply defined patches. </DL>
<A NAME="alopecoid">
<B>alopecoid, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or like a fox; foxlike; vulpine. </DL>
<A NAME="alorese">
<B>Alorese, </B>noun, pl. <B>-rese,</B> adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a native or inhabitant of the island of Alor in Indonesia. <DD><I>adj. </I> of Alor or its people. </DL>
<A NAME="alors">
<B>alors, </B>interjection.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) then. <BR> <I>Ex. He raises his eyebrows and smiles. "Alors, adieu" (James Baldwin).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="aloud">
<B>aloud, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>loud enough to be heard; not in a whisper. <BR> <I>Ex. He spoke aloud, although he was alone. She read the story aloud to the others.</I> (SYN) audibly. <DD><B> 2. </B>in a loud voice; loudly. <BR> <I>Ex. The wounded man groaned aloud with pain.</I> (SYN) vociferously. </DL>
<A NAME="aloutrance">
<B>a l'outrance,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) to the utmost; to the very end. <BR> <I>Ex. Gilbert Scott was the Hector, and Palmerston the Achilles of this early Victorian duel a l'outrance (London Times).</I> <DL COMPACT><DD> See also <B>a outrance.</B> </DL>
</DL>
<A NAME="alow">
<B>alow</B> (1), adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Archaic or Nautical.) below; down. </DL>
<B>alp, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a high mountain. <DD><B> 2. </B>mountain grassland occurring especially above the timber line. </DL>
<A NAME="alp">
<B>Alp, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a single peak of the Alps (mountain system in Europe). </DL>
<A NAME="alpaca">
<B>alpaca, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>a sheeplike animal of South America, with long, soft, silky hair or wool. It is a mammal closely related to, but somewhat smaller than, the llama. <DD><B> b. </B>its long, soft, and silky wool. <DD><B> c. </B>a warm, lightweight cloth made from this wool. <DD><B> 2a. </B>a glossy, wiry cloth made of wool and cotton, usually black or gray. <DD><B> b. </B>an imitation of this made from rayon or cotton. </DL>
<A NAME="alpargata">
<B>alpargata, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Spanish.) a sandal of cloth, especially canvas, with braided rope sole. <BR> <I>Ex. spinning and twisting heavy jute yarns for alpargatas (Glasgow Herald).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="alpeen">
<B>alpeen, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a stout-headed stick; cudgel. </DL>
<A NAME="alpenglow">
<B>alpenglow, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a rosy glow from the setting or rising sun often seen on or near the peaks of mountains. </DL>
<A NAME="alpenhorn">
<B>alpenhorn, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a long, powerful wooden horn used especially in the Alps of Switzerland and Austria for calling cattle and for signals; alphorn; alpine horn. </DL>
<A NAME="alpenstock">
<B>alpenstock, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a strong staff with an iron point, used as an aid in climbing mountains. </DL>
<A NAME="alpestrine">
<B>alpestrine, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>growing on mountains below the timber line; subalpine. <DD><B> 2. </B>of or having to do with high mountains, especially the Alps. </DL>
<A NAME="alpha">
<B>alpha, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the first letter of the Greek alphabet, corresponding to the English <I>A, a.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the beginning; first in a series. <DD><B> 3. </B>the first, largest, or other most important feature of a series, especially as a symbol. <DD><B> 4. </B>one of several possible positions of atoms or groups which are substituted in a compound. <BR> <I>Ex. alpha iron.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="alpha">
<B>Alpha, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the principal (usually, the brightest) star in a constellation. Thus, the polestar is referred to by astronomers as Alpha Ursae Minoris, because it is the principal star in the constellation Ursa Minor. </DL>
<A NAME="alphaandomega">
<B>alpha and omega,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the first and the last; the beginning and the end. <BR> <I>Ex. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord (Revelation 1:8).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="alphabet">
<B>alphabet, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the letters of a language arranged in their usual order, not as they are in words. The English alphabet is a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z. <DD><B> 2. </B>a set of letters or characters representing sounds, used in writing a language. The English alphabet has only 26 letters to represent more than 40 sounds. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) parts to be learned first; elementary principles. (SYN) rudiments, fundamentals. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to alphabetize. </DL>
<A NAME="alphabetarian">
<B>alphabetarian, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who is learning the alphabet. </DL>
<A NAME="alphabetic">
<B>alphabetic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> alphabetical. <BR> <I>Ex. The apparent ancestor of most of the alphabetic writing is that developed for the Phoenician language (Henry A. Gleason, Jr.).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="alphabetical">
<B>alphabetical, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>arranged by letters in the order of the alphabet. <BR> <I>Ex. Dictionary entries are listed in alphabetical order.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>of the alphabet. <DD><B> 3. </B>using or expressed by an alphabet. <BR> <I>Ex. Mandarin Chinese is a deliberate literary medium created by Hu Shih and his helpers. Mao will now make its orthography alphabetical by edict (Simeon Potter).</I> adv. <B>alphabetically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="alphabetize">
<B>alphabetize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to arrange in the usual order of the letters of the alphabet. <BR> <I>Ex. Alphabetize the words in your spelling lesson.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to express by an alphabet. noun <B>alphabetization.</B> noun <B>alphabetizer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="alphabetsoup">
<B>alphabet soup,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>soup cooked with pieces of dried flour paste shaped in the letters of the alphabet. <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S. Slang.) abbreviations, especially of government agencies. <BR> <I>Ex. Not even F.D.R.'s New Deal (WPA, PWA, NRA, etc., etc.) managed to cook up such a rich alphabet soup. (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="alphabrass">
<B>alpha brass,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> brass consisting of a solid solution containing up to 38 percent zinc. </DL>
<A NAME="alphacellulose">
<B>alpha cellulose,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a highly refined and purified form of cellulose, used as a filler, especially in plastics, in surgery, and in filters. </DL>
<A NAME="alphacentauri">
<B>Alpha Centauri,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a star system consisting of three stars, but appearing to the naked eye as a single star of a minus magnitude, in the constellation Centaurus. </DL>
<A NAME="alphacrucis">
<B>Alpha Crucis,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the brightest star in the Southern Cross (Crux) and one of the twenty brightest stars in the heavens. </DL>
<A NAME="alphadecay">
<B>alpha decay,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the disintegration of a radioactive substance through the emission of alpha particles. </DL>
<A NAME="alphafetoprotein">
<B>alphafetoprotein, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a protein of undetermined function produced in the liver by the fetus and by persons suffering from some diseases, such as hepatitis. A high level of alphafetoprotein in the blood serum of a pregnant woman indicates possible defects of the brain and central nervous system in the fetus. (Abbr:) AFP (no periods). </DL>
<A NAME="alphaglobulin">
<B>alpha globulin,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> one of the fractions of globulin, containing enzymes and hormones. </DL>
<A NAME="alphahelix">
<B>alpha-helix, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the molecular structure of many proteins, made up of a single spiral or coil of amino acid with a line of hydrogen bonds as its backbone. </DL>
<A NAME="alphaherculis">
<B>Alpha Herculis,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the largest star in the galactic system that contains the sun and earth. </DL>
<A NAME="alphairon">
<B>alpha iron,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a soft, ductile, magnetic form of iron. </DL>
<A NAME="alphaleonis">
<B>Alpha Leonis,</B> =Regulus.</DL>
<A NAME="alphameric">
<B>alphameric, </B>adjective. =alphanumeric.</DL>
<A NAME="alphametic">
<B>alphametic, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an arithmetical puzzle or calculation using letters instead of numerals, each letter representing a specific digit. </DL>
<A NAME="alphanumeric">
<B>alphanumeric, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> using both letters and numbers. <BR> <I>Ex. an alphanumeric computer.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="alphaparticle">
<B>alpha particle,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Physics.) a positively charged particle consisting of two protons and two neutrons, released at a very high speed in the disintegration of radium and other radioactive substances. By the acquisition of two electrons it becomes an atom of helium. </DL>
<A NAME="alphaprivative">
<B>alpha privative,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the prefix <B>a-</B> (4) when used to mean "not" or "without," as in <I>asymmetrical.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="alpharays">
<B>alpha rays</B> or <B>alpha radiation,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Physics.) a stream of alpha particles. <BR> <I>Ex. Alpha radiation consists of ... high-energy particles [that] have low penetrating ability. The skin of a mammal or the exoskeleton of an insect will stop most alpha radiation (R. G. Wiegert).</I> </DL>
